


Lizbob Supernatural Watching Notes (season 10)

by lizbobjones



Series: Lizbob Supernatural Watching Notes [10]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Meta, Meta Essay, Non Fiction, archived from elizabethrobertajones blog, watching notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:18:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizbobjones/pseuds/lizbobjones
Summary: This one is the first rewatch of this style I ever did, and also happened to be done on the night before 10x21 aired, meaning it's the last relic of pre-Charlie death Lizbob writing on the show, and season 10 positivity. I find it pretty fascinating but also so naive now :P





	1. 10x01

**Author's Note:**

> This one is the first rewatch of this style I ever did, and also happened to be done on the night before 10x21 aired, meaning it's the last relic of pre-Charlie death Lizbob writing on the show, and season 10 positivity. I find it pretty fascinating but also so naive now :P

*quietly re-watches season 10 because I feel terrible, there’s a looming Bucklemming plot episode, the fandom is split between despair, grim speculation, and leaving canon behind entirely and ascending on a magical cloud of rainbows and sunshine to Wayward Daughters where everything is perfect and nothing hurts*

Standard delirious re-watch ramblings under the cut disclaimer.

##  **10x01:**

* * *

In hindsight the Road So Far makes season 9 look like simpler, happier times.

* * *

The 3 main characters get their season 10 issues summed up in a line each from last season:

“How’s that stolen grace working out for you?”

“It’s the bloody Mark of Cain.”

“Magic that powerful always comes at a price, and right now we don’t know what that price is.”

Hmm. *steeples fingers and stares over them at Sam*

I mean, sure, people were talking about witch!Sam before even the end of season 9 and definitely after it, and it’s been background radiation all season,  _but_  I’m interested in the choice of lines since it’s clear each relates to the character for this season.

Cas’s one was short-term specifically for the opening 3 episodes, although obviously the grace storyline wrapped in 10x18 with that being the only return to it, and it’s pending further info on how relevant he/his grace is to the end of the season at this point. The line is delivered over a quick visual summary of the angel wars and Cas taking up leadership of the angels but NOT how he lost them (over Metatron revealing the stolen grace). It’s another question that wasn’t really answered and combined with juxtaposing it over Cas vs the angel storyline of season 9, probably counts as the first challenge from Metatron before the ones issues in 10x18 over Cas’s identity. All season he has struggled with who he now is and his place in the world and the season 9 stuff was a catalyst.

For Dean the line is a simple statement. This is his issue for the whole season, filling every space in the narrative one way or the other. It’s bloody, it’s the Mark of Cain, and that’s really all there is to it.

For Sam there is this statement, setting up the conflict for the end of the season. It’s from his own mouth unlike the words coming from the villains (Metatron and Crowley respectively) paired to the others. Like how Cas’s only REALLY covered the first 3 episodes, this phrase mostly seems to be covering this last run of episodes from 10x18 but I assume really 10x21 onwards so the LAST 3 episodes of the season to counter-balance Cas’s. The statement is pretty self-explanatory so I think it’s best just to point out these basic facts about it and move on. :P (except to say that it’s said over a montage of Dean stabbing/punching things, the end of the sentence rounded off by Dean punching Sam in the face in 9x23 to knock him out)

* * *

Thinking of that, I wonder if the actual opening will come back around. Dar’s whole apparent misconception that this was the Winchester that was “one of us”… There’s been some speculation about the Book of the Damned’s ability to “create and remove” damnation mixed with Cain’s line about “his soul in Heaven for my soul in Hell”. A lot of balancing back and forth between damnation or salvation and between the brothers. The whole theme of Sam is the new Dean etc.

Season openings tend to get reflected back on themselves - e.g. season 8 opening with a helicopter shot over a calm woodland scene as the first visual shot/angels falling over the woods looking up at them as a farewell visual; Dean cheerfully resurrecting Benny/Dean being all “I killed Benny for you”. Season 9 opening with Sam dying, then possessed with an angel/ending with Dean dead, as a demon. People have been discussing Dean separating himself again to mirror how they were all split up at the beginning of this season (making the “sammy let me go” note loop back to whatever note Jensen teased us about writing), but all on different terms as a result of this season. I wonder how this opening scene might end up reflected back on itself, given it was about as far down the Mystery Spot!Sam line as we’ve seen him go in the normal timeline,  _yet_. Again, deeply pending on the last 3 episodes since he’s already walking it once more.

* * *

TBH I’m never going to be over the Dean/Cas parallels in this episode. Especially the lying around naked in bed ones.

MORE amused now that the Cas naked in bed phone conversation with Sam was paralleled visually with Sam calling Rowena for help in 10x19.

* * *

I’m still really curious about what made Sam and Cas split up in the gap, or rather, how. They probably had a hell of an icy departure based on the way they talk about it.

Sam talks excitedly over Cas coughing his lungs up for way too long because he’s excited about this lead on Dean and it makes me nervous for the speculation (that I’ve contributed to :P) about Sam accidentally getting way too into the cure for Dean from the BotD and inadvertently hurting/killing Cas. 

Sam saying how he’ll be happy to have Dean back after he kicks his butt reminds me of Claire saying how she needs to find Amelia just to tell her off.

Overall this sets up Sam and Cas as kind of but not really working together, which is something I am definitely going to be squinting at as I go through the season considering where we’re at and how I keep ending up talking about it. As the foundation to this specific working relationship, it’s not good. Sam talks over Cas and only belatedly shows concern, which he does by trying to white-lie his way out of Cas’s involvement. They get briefly heated about Sam’s arm, with a sense there is a need for blame or that both are either carrying it or foisting it on the other. Their only real agreement is over Dean where they both become their more natural personalities, and talking about him smooths over their fraught attempt at communication. 

* * *

Incidentally 10x01 features one more instance of Sam favouring the 2nd stool in at [the weird table in the Bunker kitchen](http://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/tagged/look-at-this-effin-table/chrono). This tracks backwards to 9x13 and forwards to 10x18, and makes a 3-point story of Sam and Dean fighting over the Gadreel thing and Sam telling Dean he wouldn’t do the same thing for him in the same position; Sam sitting at the table with Dean gone, in a hypothetical situation of would-do-anything if only he knew what to do (see above: the cold open, Cas’s comment about Sam being out of - control? line? We’ll never know but we can guess); and then Sam sitting there a spectator at the Pizza Last Supper about to do the absolute definition of scraping the bottom of the barrel “anything” to save Dean.

* * *

I know I’ve even acknowledged this line before but “get a room” / “had a room” gets worse every time I hear it. Blargh. I’m keeping this as Dean/Crowley light as possible because I’m trying to just go over new ground/hindsight/speculation and this one has been talked to death, but  _really_.

* * *

A lot of speculation after this aired about Ann-Marie’s role in opening up Dean’s wants came around later in the season with the confession/wanting to go the beach etc. (He hasn’t asked her to run off with him at this point but he talked to her about not getting too attached, blah blah, basically the opposite of the implied “I want a meaningful relationship” of the confession. The desire to go to the beach/asking Ann-Marie to run off with him/the talk about Claire being better off alone all mix up to a confusion collection of desires that basically boil down to needing a holiday and with or without anyone at all, Sam on better terms, or a love interest, Dean really wants to chill for a bit. 

* * *

Hannaaah.

Especially having just rewatched season 9 in the last week, I think it’s interesting how Cas immediately asks “There’s no leader?” which she then waffles around describing a loose democracy (but we know FROM Hannah just how bad the average angel is at sticking to a leaderless world - hence I guess Hannah’s name being slapped on Heaven by the end of this season if she was the one saying sensible things and therefore accidentally making herself look like an authority figure and therefore attracting angels as a following). Cas’s first conversation ever with Hannah he had to tell her he wasn’t a leader. He was then manipulated into BEING their leader, and then in a kind of ‘well what did you think was going to happen?’ lost that again. Hannah’s little bits in 9x22 are fascinating after season 10 - and her interaction with Dean, but also how Tessa manages to make her flip.

> HANNAH
> 
> You have to understand that Castiel is the only thing holding us together. A month ago, half the angels in this place were trying to kill the other half.  **Castiel has given us a purpose. But more than that, he has given us a way to live in peace. We have rules. Order.**  If I let you take matters into your own hands, what’s to stop one of them from doing the same?

…

> DEAN
> 
> Okay. Well, let’s start with an easy one. Who are you working for?
> 
> TESSA
> 
> Castiel.
> 
> HANNAH
> 
> **Liar.**
> 
> TESSA
> 
> **People like you, they never understand.**  Sacrifices have to be made.
> 
> DEAN
> 
> So you go after one of the bad guys, and if a few humans get microwaved, no big deal, right?
> 
> TESSA
> 
> In the grand scheme, they don’t matter.
> 
> DEAN
> 
> Oh, Tessa, you are so wrong.
> 
> TESSA
> 
> When Castiel came to me and told me what I had to do, he said I was chosen because I was strong.  **Others…they couldn’t handle this. They’re too weak. [she looks at HANNAH]**
> 
> [HANNAH leaps at TESSA but DEAN puts his arm up to stop her. He grabs her shoulders and shoves her out the door and into the hallway. He steps out to and closes the door behind him.]
> 
> DEAN
> 
> Settle down!
> 
> HANNAH
> 
> Is – do you think she’s telling the truth?
> 
> DEAN
> 
> She thinks she is.

I think it’s interesting just how MUCH is in there for Hannah (and her fascinating interaction with Dean!) especially in hindsight that we find out she really did manage to pull it off with Heaven and thank god all that WAS building to her taking over in Heaven. (Potential for creepy farmed humans plotline foreshadowed all over with discussion of souls and heaven this season aside.)

She’s very insecure through season 9 and in a way she needs the hard knock of Metatron reveal Cas stole grace, prioritises Dean etc, to make her realise he’s not this perfect angel that knows exactly what he’s doing and just because he has a strong personality and dramatic history, that he’s automatically  _supposed_ to be the one to do anything. Now that she’s been made to understand Cas a bit better in season 9, season 10 sets out to deal with Hannah herself.

* * *

Like with Sam and Cas there’s a little gap in here where Cas was cut completely loose: we have whatever happened with Sam’s arm, which presumably marked the end of them working together, and then the quiet nod to Cas not going back to Heaven after, but choosing to stay and moulder on Earth: 

“I would have come sooner, but…” And again that’s cut off and we don’t really get an explanation, but this time instead of some headcanon about Sam and Cas falling out, there’s this void where he was cut loose from Sam,  _possibly_  searching for Dean alone, but very sick and prone to lying around naked in bed instead, and definitely not actually intending to go back to Heaven any time soon, to the point where this is almost like he’s been caught playing truant.

… I still am convinced when Hannah comes down here and tells him about the rogue angels, Cas was her rogue angel no.1 but she had no idea how to make him just  _come back_  (see later: priorities) but she knew between his ongoing guilt trip about Heaven (see previously: Naomi, any time Metatron manipulated Cas in season 8 or 9) would at least reasonably make him take on active work, even if she couldn’t find a way to instantly convince him to just come home (see also: Metatron’s challenge to Cas in 10x18).

* * *

Oh  _no_  I forgot how funny I inexplicably found Cole to start with, and then I was going to give him a chance after 10x07 and then the  _steam sauna thing happened_  and yeah basically I can never re-watch the supposedly serious bits he’s in at all ever without laughing about this. Woops.

* * *

Cas and his “blah blah I’m fine we have a mission that supersedes my needs, all of our needs,” really reminds me of basically everything Dean ever says about the Mark from the moment he’s cured onwards.

There’s a playground in the background of Cas’s shots when they’re having this conversation. Considering Heaven is now apparently permanently in a playground, I wonder if there’s anything to say about that, as he talks about the mission and complaining that no more angels should die just to prop him up.

* * *

Argh Sam and Crowley’s phone conversation. Sam convinced Crowley has some random demon instead Dean instead of Dean himself - thinking of ominous things Jensen has said, that thing that’s had everyone worried about him becoming an empty soulless meatsuit. Crowley doesn’t think that was very imaginative of him, but still.

Also you know the whole thing with Sam being all “I will save my brother or die trying”… Never got why he said something about a black magic stunt there except to show him musing on dark magic again, because the Mark is pretty obviously the biggest dark magic evar (see above: literally Sam’s quote about it from The Road So Far of this episode) so why he didn’t just instantly assume this was it… Miscommunication/misunderstanding about the Mark is such an ongoing theme even when Sam, who’s pretty smart, should be able to figure it out. 

* * *

And of course Sam saying he’ll kill Crowley way way in advance of him saying it again POST Cain’s list.

* * *

I just really like the fishing angel. Such ridiculously blatant metaphors. :’) Without Hannah there Cas probably would have picked up a fishing rod and joined right in. And then talked about Dean a lot because of the time he found him fishing in a dream and they would just be besties. Maybe go on a camping trip with Adina and Dean as well. Forget the beach episode.

Although tbh if the Grigori thing was any foreshadowing for a proper storyline about these rogue angels, this is foreshadowing for  _them_. “The trick is to find that special spot, just outside of the run where the big ones, the smart ones, are holding low.” “Do they put up much of a fight?” “The ones that truly want to be free. They do.”

Like obviously he was talking about himself and Adina there, and it was being related to Cas, but I think that’s also a pretty good description of our new rogue angels who’ve been holding low and truly wanting to be free for a  _long_  time.

* * *

I don’t think I ever noticed there’d another brown telephone next to the flowery bed Dean wakes up on. Shame he missed his chance to talk to Cas and he’s off with Hannah now. *thinks of the speculation that he thinks they’re an item*

* * *

Cole’s like “home sweet home” about season 10′s Creepy Barn no.1 and I’m like “yeah pretty much.”

I should keep a tally but like there’s probably one per episode.

* * *

Still think Hannah vs Metatron should be a really important thing. 10x18 had me squealing with delight about how she was the worst thing he could have imagined (I think in my weird rewatch of 9x18). She represents order here, and talks about the bad effects of chaos, pausing with about the same level of dramatic effect on “…Metatron” as Cas does in the human things list on “…love.”

FYI that still kills me.

As does the immediate transition to Dean.

* * *

Oh good lord Dean telling Cole about the open tab at the bar when trying to taunt Sam and then Cole talking back… Like, I think I get why he makes me laugh suddenly and I needed the hindsight of 10x15 to explain it to myself. He genuinely sounds kinda flirtatious whatever he says (there was a weird moment when he comes up to Sam with the stopped car where I was giggling about it sounding sort of flirty until he suddenly punched him). Like his and Dean’s first ever non-I-just-stabbed-your-father interaction is “I left you an open tab on the bar, knock yourself out” “Hell I might just take you up on that.”

I genuinely thought I was going to pass out from laughing during the steam room sequence, so this kind of starts to explain my issue with taking this dynamic seriously. 

* * *

Dean talking about not bargaining with Cole to get Sam back seems an extreme end of them breaking away from each other BUT with the speculation about the end of the season leaning towards Dean leaving again, and over this fight about if Sam is right to save Dean or not, it’s still kind of relevant. Obviously we still want them to want to save each other, and one lone creepy stalker tying one of them up in a generic creepy barn should be the sort of thing where they do the dramatic thing and role in to save the other, because that’s on a simple obvious level and describes like 80% of all MotW episodes in one way or another. I guess demon!Dean deciding it’s not his problem to go save Sam from an easy to avoid fate is a way of opening up this dialogue for the season: for all the wrong here, it’s the real beginning of the conversation for the rear end of the season.

* * *

I’m so sluggish it’s taken me 6 hours to watch this. I’m going to go to sleep and continue my re-watch tomorrow and hopefully have more than 1% battery life in my brain so I can make it through a bigger chunk of the season. :P 


	2. 10x21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My never-posted-before episode notes for 10x21... Like hell am I reading them again but here they are for historical record >.>

Well I feel as great as I did before The Executioner's Song and that episode made me physically ill. Let's see how Dark Dynasty measures up to that episode's stress levels. Expect grumbling.

...

Hamster.

...

If this turns into eye horror I'm out. Eye horror is just... nope. Nope nope nope nope.

Haven't thrown up yet.

Jesus Christ I don't even care about Charlie I can't watch this.

...

*drinks coffee with shaking hands while Sam recaps the plot to Rowena and she recounts the plot back*

...

Rowena is like Sam's pet hamster.

...

These guys have cool wallpaper.

You probably shouldn't send the most incompetent member of your family to catch the Winchesters.

Oh good this one's *also* incompetent and is trying to find Charlie. That cheers me up about her fate.

Nice to know these villains are so scary. Built up like this and so far all of them are implied to actually be lousy at what they do.

...

Heh Dean thinks Sam has a woman. Well...

Dean conveniently decides after 2 episodes to actually do something about the Stynes? I wonder what this show would flow like if they could write the story in one go without the filler stuff so things didn't just randomly drop off the map in between episodes?

Bro angst apparently doesn't make me sick at least.

...

I love the product placement in this show. Rowena should spot Charlie using the same laptop make as Hell, and convince her to hack it and they could run off together and be super powerful magical besties.

One of Charlie's tabs is a bright pink box labelled "FanFic" FYI. I think we saw her start screen last episode she was in but I didn't get a good look at it.

...

Wow I wish all Cas episodes started with him just walking in a door with no explanation. It's like the OPPOSITE of when they forget to write Cas with no explanation.

I'd honestly forgotten this was a Cas episode.

I think they did too until they were like "Oh he should probably walk in a door at this point."

...

Wait what we didn't even see Cas finding out about this?

We got to see Charlie finding out.

Oh well we get to find out that Cas didn't know Dean didn't know.

Charlie stop punching Cas.

You guys probably shouldn't have emotional moments about hiding things from Dean in front of Rowena.

Also Cas should probably just not be written by these guys. Cas's characterisation is making me feel ill.

Rowena's line at the end of was funny though!

...

What even is Crowley doing.

So the Asian demon didn't get randomly killed but wasn't allowed to say anything. Progress? :P

...

I swear to god if there's any more eyeball horror in this scene...

I swear to god if they zoom in on blurry CCTV footage and spot the guy's family tattoo...

Wow.

Dean's role in this episode is to stand in the background pouting.

...

Sam's got Cas saved in his phone as "Castiel" and that makes me kinda sad. It's normally "Cas."

...

Maybe Charlie's tablet gets possessed and this is a whimsical story of demons in a computer.

Oh good, satanic visions.

Oh good they're talking about Rowena and Charlie as binary opposites right after talking about curses and cures being that way.

...

Maybe this conversation where Rowena tells Charlie that she's made the Winchesters her found family and has blind devotion is foreshadowing for Charlie leaving not dying. :/

...

Oh my god Sam is eating on screen.

Sam is the new Dean.

Dean don't eat while driving this would be a REALLY inglorious end to the series. "Hi yes Dean's a demon again." "What happened?" "He was trying to drink soda and the lid came off and he got a lap full of cola, swerved the car, and we ended up in a ditch. Next thing I knew his eyes were black and he was out of there."

...

Jesus this is the most awkward episode ever. I'm going back to bed. Dean and Cas conversations shouldn't make me feel ill.

I swear Ruth and Felicia are the only ones actually trying today.

I guess this proves the "Dean n Cas haven't talked to each other for fun since season 9" theory. Remember back when Dean just casually phoned up Cas for no reason that one time? I'm starting to wonder if that was just a plot hole.

I'm personally offended Cas didn't recognise Dean's voice over the phone.

...

Am I really watching Crowley interrogate a hamster.

Crowley's nice pen! This is a good episode!

The asian demon minion has a nice suit like Crowley. Random minion no.2 for king of hell. He has all the qualifications. GRAB THE NICE PEN. CLAIM THE THRONE.

...

Never over that Dean has such big heels on his boots.

That other guy just stands there while Dean kills the first dude? The Stynes are HILARIOUSLY incompetent.

...

Oh thank fuck Cas didn't literally assume Charlie meant her brain had turned into gummi worms.

...

Well Dean does have good posture.

...

Kind of not sure about these guys saying they were behind recent terrible world history events.

...

Dean honestly is hired to stand and pout.

Oh wait there was a big dramatic reveal there. A couple of meta writers are going to be happy.

...

Yesss Charlie and Cas roadtrip. Forget everything else.

...

I'm 32 minutes into this episode and nothing much has happened.

...

Dean jump scare! Because he was just standing there.

...

Dramatic zooooom.

...

Aw Cas feels like he's betraying Dean.

...

I liked that fish graffiti.

...

Charliiiiee.

...

*stresses about her*

...

She's probably going to crack it and then something terrible happens to her. :/

Oh look she cracked it.

3 2 1...

BAM

...

DEAN STOP YELLING AT SAM GO SAVE CHARLIE. THEY ARE BEATING ON THE DOOR WITH A STUMP. THESE GUYS ARE DEDICATED.

...

Shhhiiitt don't upload it. DON'T BE KEVIN. THIS IS HOW KEVIN DIED.

For fuck's sake Charlie. I thought you got how narrative worked. NEVER EXCEED YOUR NARRATIVE USE.

...

Ooh we're 40 minutes into the episode. Maybe they just grab Charlie and disappear. Save Charlie 2k15.

...

Credits are like 1 minute right, so I have a minute left of this episode? And it takes about a minute to do a dramatic "we lost Charlie" zoom out?

Pleasepleaseplease.

...

*stares blankly*

I'm not sure I can press play.

...

No no no... Charlieee...

...

PLEASE CUT TO CREDITS.

...

Well, I didn't throw up.

 


	3. 10x22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of the liveblog notes I have posted on tumblr... Previously I made some notes about what I might talk about but often just deleted them once I'd made longer posts from individual points and decided the rest was stuff I'd just remember and talk about later, or had already seen meta someone else had covered the details of, as I wasn't rushing to post these ahead of getting any other impressions.
> 
> But I was gutted after 10x21 and needed more of an outlet and to talk myself into watching the episode with any sort of critical eye, and so this started... Like with the season 1 notes being a bit shorter and less in-depth, we're back in time to when I wrote less and as I progress I get more into it with the season 11 notes, and in season 12 they became a standard feature of my watching... So far I've not continued my meta rewatch past season 10, though, so there's a current lengthy gap here.

I am  _covered_  in tea.

* * *

Oh look Dean remembers Charlie ASKING HIM IF HE’S EVER GOING TO LET SAM GO RIGHT BEFORE HE FUCKED UP BEFORE THE TRIALS AND COULDN’T LET SAM GO.

* * *

Fuck, the show got me.

*resentfully puts Charlie on the funeral pyre up with that fight about licorice as the only 2 moments I’ve *actually* welled up at this dumb show* I don’t cry for Sam n Dean but I do cry for their extended family. :P

I said I wouldn’t but I’m sentimental and they did a MONTAGE. A MONTAGE.

* * *

WELL YEAH HE’S ALL YOU GOT YOU JUST KILLED CHARLIE.  
… And what about Cas? Huh? Not enough Samstiel this season to make that sink in?

Dean certainly seems to think he and Cas have been buddies this year. >.>

* * *

Ah the gendered roles… Women are nurses, men are body harvesting psychos.

Say a Styne lost their head, could they sew a new one on? I need to see this before they go or they will have just been NOT WORTH IT.

Edit from hindsight: they were not worth it. 

* * *

Oh my god Rudy has a voice. Are we actually going to see him?? Wasn’t he the one Sam was calling in 10x01? Does Rudy know that they only call him when bad stuff happens to the other? I hope they come with a proper warning label. I predict he’s dead by the end of the episode just because.

Edit from hindsight: oh okay, Rudy lives to see another day. STAY AWAY FROM THE WINCHESTERS.

* * *

*idly typing about Rudy and then Cas says “I’d be happy to kill her, she just called me a fish”* *hysterical laughing for like 5 minutes* Okay, fine, I’m not rage watching any more, am I?

Stupid angelfish.

I can’t quit you, Cas. <3

* * *

Oh for fuck’s sake, Charlie’s files are called FORDEAN.

Cas keep being angry at Sam. Good good.

“It’s become his thing”… 

Wait that wasn’t enough. ………………………. *angry ragesilence intensifies*

Sam sending Cas off, but this time Cas has culpability unless he actually rushes off to tell Dean that Sam’s using the BotD immediately. Cas you had better fuckin’ do that.

Edit for hindsight: DAMMIT CAS.

* * *

Tell me Sam and Rowena didn’t angry makeout after that scene transition. Try it.

* * *

Baby no!

* * *

What the hell is Crowley’s job.

Oh wait, is Crowley ACTUALLY doing his job? What the what.

* * *

Freddy! Dean uses Freddy Mercury! Not a drill!

* * *

Heh Dean avenging Baby’s lights. Dean’s good at keeping the list in order of what needs avenging.

* * *

Hah me and Crowley sitting there agreeing about how sneaky Sam is. Of course ONE of us didn’t just get shot from behind with a devil’s trap.

Wait so they show him keeling over choking and fade to black? Yeah, I can see how he makes it to next episode. Sam should have just stabbed him instead of going for Rowena’s dramatics.

* * *

Haven’t seen Cas in a while and we’re halfway through the episode.

* * *

I miss my angelfish.

* * *

Hah Dean that was a PATHETIC raid. You got in the front door! Grats!

* * *

Crowley MONOLOGUING from the floor. What the.

Sam just go outside for a smoke break and then come back to check on him.

* * *

Jesus, Sam is TERRIFYING. I mean, like, he’s really snapped. Okay, it’s Crowley and Sam’s the only one who never lost sight of that, but even so.

Crowley STILL MONOLOGUING. Is this Shakespeare?

Aw come on.

That was not for Crowley not dying btw, but for the fact it took THIS to make Crowley “evil again”? Not, like, all the times Dean mistreated him this season? Pfft. I’m honestly, truly, upset about the lack of evil!Crowley from 10x14 onwards. If you let me write season 10 he’d have been the villain from then on.

* * *

Crowley probably wouldn’t have killed Charlie I mean he prefers emotional blackmail.

* * *

*is just sitting here with the paused episode raging about Crowley* Right there’s probably other stuff to watch.

* * *

Ooh graffiti behind Sam says “pixie dust” *still rooting for fairies for the main villains in a season against all odds* … That doodle probably does not mean fairies are coming. I can dream.

Seriously we are ¾ of the way through the episode and still no Cas again? Where is my angelfish?

* * *

CAS!

Aw man we missed Dean killing like 12 other Stynes.

* * *

Back to the bunker!

BITCH YOU DID NOT GO IN DEAN’S ROOM.

He will end you. Did you not know he killed the entire rest of your family for knocking out his tail lights?

* * *

Oh man no you’ll wreck those books getting gasoline on them.

lol Dean’s home.

That shot of him walking in…  Wowser.

… He just called Charlie “Chucky” and tbh this reminds me of the “Charlie is God” theory.

* * *

Before I go into this fight, I’m just gonna:  
\- so these guys drove all the way up here from Louisiana.  
\- Dean was right behind them but covered in blood with his tailights out and didn’t get pulled over again.  
\- the promos show Cas here and we just saw him back in the Stynes place, which means Cas is going to drive EVEN FASTER than Dean to get back here given that he was behind, unless Dean sort of sits pensively for a while after disposing of the Stynes, so Cas is speeding through multiple states and ALSO doesn’t get pulled over at any point (did ANYONE teach Cas the highway code? I can imagine him accidentally going on a 3 hour 30mph police chase because he didn’t realise he was supposed to pull over. This has happened off screen at some point after he started driving.)  
\- the promos didn’t show Sam here but he’s presumably closer and Dean and the Stynes and Cas all have to drive here from Louisiana.  
\- If Cas was incoming while Dean was outgoing, did they drive right past each other on a main road and not notice? GIVEN THIS SEASON I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED. THIS HAS NOW ALSO OFFICIALLY HAPPENED OFF-SCREEN.

… I don’t know what I expect from Dabb, he threw Cas in the back of the Impala in 9x22 for the drive home from Cas’s angel army base despite the fact he does own a car and was driving around in it earlier in the episode, and then in 9x23 Sam n Cas drive out after Gadreel IN CAS’S FUCKIN’ CAR. I’ve mentally boxed him off as Bad At Cars Guy. To the point where everyone, including the other writers, just ignores how bad at cars he is.

* * *

*gets a second cup of tea because one wasn’t enough*

*winces and hits play again*

* * *

Ugh don’t talk about Charlie’s death. Don’t make it more gross. >.> Please.

* * *

What the fuck was Dean’s 7 nipples speech about?

* * *

Okaaay Dean’s a quick draw.

So this thing with the kid is like what Cain was doing. Dean’s Cain now. Cool cool. Dean 4 Cain Hair 2k15.

CAS. MY ANGELFISH.

* * *

Ooh dramatic cut to black. Excellent.

Is that Sam still driving? *awards Dabb another Bad At Cars point just for lols because I’m in a capricious mood*

*sign says “Lebanon 40 miles* *starts laughing* Dude where WAS Sam? Somewhere the distance of Lousiana plus another 40 miles. Always confront the King of Hell in your own backyard. He knows where you live anyway and he’s the one who can fuckin’ teleport.

* * *

Ummm Cas and Dean in a scene and there’s 4 minutes left. Do I want to keep watching? Maybe I’ll just go. *points to the door*

* * *

They’re standing close to each other

* * *

They’re *touching*

* * *

*hyperventilates* Cas has thought about their immortal future together.

* * *

"I’m the one that would have to watch you murder the world” GOSH he knows how to sweet talk a guy.

* * *

Jesus shit fuck stop hitting Cas he wanted to spend an immortal future with you DO YOU NOT KNOW A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL WHEN YOU HEAR ONE?

* * *

I do like how Cas already thinks Dean is a goner for killing the kid but there’s this reluctant “okay but I’m still going to put up with him for centuries until he starts murdering the world” like I’m just saying if you track back to the start of this conversation…

* * *

*sips tea*

* * *

Dean is STRONG. I mean Cas is about as tough as he’ll get right now, no? And Dean is TOSSING him around.

* * *

*sips tea with slightly shakier hands*

got 1 minute left and most of that will be credits.

Pls stop hitting Cas.

* * *

FUCK PUT HTAT BLADE DOWN DEAN. PUT IT DOWN.

* * *

Cas is holding his arm this is not a drill this is not a drill. *wait didn’t I use that phrasing back in the hazy happy summer days when I found out Dean uses Freddy Mercury as an alias?*

* * *

*sips tea with such a shaky hand I spill tea on my face*

* * *

Yeah Dean missed because he sucks at stabbing people. Dean is so bad at stabbing he can’t even hit an angel at close range and stabs a BOOK instead. There’s got to be something symbolic about that because Cas n books this season.

* * *

Metatron would be pleased.


	4. 10x23

Alright, I have coffee and the motivation to be awake before 7am thanks to a rubbish nightmare, let’s watch this thing.

(Seriously, my brain just said, ‘Spiders.’ and I jerked awake. Worst alarm clock ever.)

* * *

Ugh teenage girls getting their hands all over my show. WHERE’S THE CLASSIC ROCK? FOR DUDES.

I am glad Cas vs Doors was such a thing that it gets a nod in the general mess of random clips of destruction. See, this is what we mean when we say we need more Cas. If he fucks up enough shit he gets into the opening montage just for funsies instead of for plot reasons.

*giggles at the blink and you miss it shot of that photo of Dean n Crowley while Rowena says ‘You’re their bitch’* Ah man, season Drowley. Whatever happens to you today, Crowley, you certainly gave this season the weirdest damn subtext.

Yey Donna. Yey sandbox Cas.

Was Hannah in there just to show her leaving or…? 

Heh, Crowley flirting with Seth last episode.

Boo Charlie. :< 

Oh man I know it was the last shot of last episode but finishing the montage with Cas after the fight is just *ouch*

* * *

“The only thing that stopped Cain was death” or like… Death? Hahah. After that promo where Carver slipped in a “Mark” pun I am convinced this episode is just going to be 100% puns.

But yeah you go Cas, arguing to find Dean instead of doing the cure. Squint at Sam a bit harder, maybe that will convince him. >.>

“Yes I know there will be consequences, but not you…” *pause* *Lizzy winces* Sam no. That sounds a lot like an accidental promise he can’t keep.

* * *

… Is Dean wearing his dead guy plaid from LAST season finale? Dean maybe DON’T WEAR THE BLACK AND RED SHIRTS.

A Winchester telling themselves they’re good  _without anyone asking_? Okay yeah he’s doomed. Also the fun variant of the I’m fine game with ‘I’m good’ is, of course, a pun on his failing inner morality.

* * *

Title card: we’re up to 2 puns already.

Last chance for the title card to mean anything! 

* * *

Oh man, Dean. Oooh man. *shakes head* Is that a callback to calling Ann-Marie a skank at the beginning of the season? It’s not a fun callback. Stop being rude to dead girls.

“Could be the Whore of Babylon” and Dean’s like “Lol yeah, killed that one”. It’s not a pun but I’m giving it a half-point anyway for making you cringe with your extra knowledge of the subject.

Mark pun we were spoiled about, so 3.5

Rudy! You’re so dead! I told you so last episode and you didn’t listen. You just haaad to show up as an actual person in this one.

* * *

Teehee, Rowena and Samuel. TBH thanks to the 20 hours of missing time from last episode they’re practically canon, if the same rules apply as the 9x06 fan fiction gap to Dean n Cas. I am enjoying how riled up she makes him too much. :P

Cas’s entire job this episode is to follow Sam around as his shoulder angel and discovering just how much he means to Dean when he listens, because Sam is  _completely deaf_  to his shoulder angel.

I am pretty sure “which spell” was a pun on “witch spell”. 4.5

* * *

Man, I can see why they didn’t have demon!Dean stick around to do some cases for fun before the cure… If this is what Dean’s like trying to work ‘normally’ while under the influence… I’m really (not) enjoying how obsessed he is with calling the girl a skank.

That kid peering through the door made me wonder for a moment if we were going to see Dean kill the dad and have another Cole situation. Like, setting up dominoes for season 20 or something.

No discernible puns this scene!

* * *

Okay, the spell ingredients are finally out in the open. Aaand something Rowena loves? I kind of feel her little thing about happily killing anything to get out sort of negates the actual useful sacrifice element of killing something she loves. :P Man, this better not be the last chance for Destiel this season if Sam fucks off to hang out with Dean and Cas is left with her and does the sacrifice somehow. For the sake of argument that’s not going to happen, because yeah, that would be too on the nose.

Only one way to find out. *reaches out with a hand over eyes and presses play, wincing*

Oh hey Cas reading minds. :3 Nice. So there is SOMETHING he can do. And there is something Rowena loves, among all the other implausibly hard to find ingredients. Seriously this episode does not feel long enough. :P

If Cas could fly still there’d be nothing stopping him zapping back and forth in time and settling this in 3 trips. Bam, spell done, Dean cured.

Sam’s like “Make the spell happens, whatever it takes”. Oh dear.

I think the comment about Dean not being in the best place and the mention of him being in Nebraska in one quick exchange was a pun and a burn on Nebraska. 5.5 

* * *

Lol told Rudy he was dead. Pfft. 

Aw yes Cas remorse.

Obligatory ‘it’s not gay if I regret Rudy too’ flash. We all know. It’s too late. 

Dean wanted to be a rockstar and now he’s smashing motel rooms. This is not how you do it.

* * *

Crowley! There will probably be more puns! \o/

How does Crowley know Cas’s wings are broken?

Is this one of those things where he just has a warehouse full of bits of broken golden calf in Belize?

There were no puns and I am doubting the point of having Crowley in this episode. Cas being terrible at begging was funny though.

I am distraught that our speculation was correct and he did seem to be using that random car that was in the background. What happened to his proper car?? Maybe Dean punctured the tires on the way out last episode or something.

* * *

Oh no there’s mini golf attached to this motel as well. :<

Well I guess that’s the note that we were teased about. Is this permission for Sam to finally put an ipod jack in the car and start using it to transport hundreds of dogs? Dean can’t complain any more. :P *trying desperately to shove away any sadness about Dean writing that really long letter and doing it a heartfelt way back in season 5*

* * *

Okay here we go here’s my fave character on his way. :3

Dean got Death taquitos. *ticks off something on my own personal bingo*

Which I didn’t actually write down which was silly of me, I’m doing pretty well.

Wait, he didn’t get them. He fucking MADE them?? Jesus fuck I know how much work goes into tamales. *gets 100% more emotional about this than last scene with the car*

Aw Dean makes good food. :> Death is pleased.

Death and CHESS metaphors. Fuuuck me.

Wait Death can’t kill things with the MoC either? You know, forget all the amazing plot hooks between Dean n Cas, Dean n Death is a  _spectacular_  romance. Think of all the 1000s of times he’s died, and now here they are and Death can’t kill him. I’m sobbing. I ship it. Oh god, do I ship it. If this scene was meant to do anything else other than make my poor shrivelled heart weep and give in to the inevitability of Dean’s dance with Death as a romance of the ages, I don’t care. This is it, guys. This is the story. Dean, cursed to immortality as long as Jensen has a contract, the seasons rolling on, now in-character cursed with a Mark of not-Dying, and here is Death, knowing full well that this may not even be the last time he can’t kill Dean… 

Help.

~world building~

Oh man the Mark is a Key. All that talk about it looking like a wing and nope, those were the teeth of a key. 

Also this sounds like the leviathan’s backstory, but more epic.

So this fucking Mark is the  _reason_  for the apocalypse too. 

Oh look the Mark has to be on someone or dooooooom. DOOOOOM.

I wonder what happens at the end of the season. If they cure him without him passing it on… DOOOOOOOOOM.

DEAN GETS TO HANG OUT WITH ALIENS??? HELL YEAH HELL YEAH. Death, send him to spaaaaaaace. 

Next season: Dean has his beach vacation on fucking Europa, Sam gets a dog.

* * *

Okay so in hindsight of this conversation, Sam’s call to Dean pleading him not to do it that follows seems even worse. The DOOOOOOM consequences aren’t even from the fucking spell, they’re just from the universe having a laugh at whoever casts it without knowing.

* * *

Wait wait wait, Seth is back? This is bad. This is very bad. *stares at the doomy coffins on the walls*

Oh look he’s plot important. Poor guy.

I like Crowley’s story-telling technique.

So. Jealous brothers plot between Oskar (sp?) and Crowley. Shocker on the thematic relevance there. :P

(He was still flirting with him last episode though)

(I mean they’re not technically related, all those people who jokingly shipped it after last episode didn’t get tricked into an incest ship)

* * *

If Dean drove out there in that other car instead of the Impala he has the same taste in borrowed cars as Cas this episode.

… Man where is Cas? I got so distracted with Dean n Death I forgot about him. Oops. *goes back to demanding more Cas all the time*

Ahahaha look Dean has to kill Sam. 

DID SAM SHUSH DEATH?

Oh look Death is having a ‘I AM SO DONE WITH THIS CODEPENDENCY BULLSHIT’ moment at Sam. I’m crying.

Heheh “that time you stood me up” …. I mean Death n Sam isn’t so much of a great ship, they only have a handful of deaths to share between them, but that doesn’t mean Death can’t be bitter.

Dean telling Sam to stop thinking about himself, Death saying it’s for the greater good… Basically yeah this is a textbook example of codependency issues with life and death but actually laid out on the table with a lot of emphasis on doing wrong.

…

Oh god if Sam is here and he’s left Cas in charge of removing the Mark and they DON’T convince Sam to call him up, Cas is just going to go ahead and enforce the spell because Sam isn’t phoning him up to tell him to stop (and Dean doesn’t know this is happening off screen) so Cas could be the dummy who lets the darkness in. BABE NO.

Not like this. :<

* * *

*convenient cut back to Cas to drive this point home*

Crowley does the useful zapping around the planet thing now I suppose. Boo. If Cas can’t do it because broken wings, does that imply demons have wings? I like to think little silly bat wings the actual size of bat wings.

Crowley has had some serious fun off screen this episode.

Poor Oskar is still in his apron. This is like Samandriel or something, where their dorky uniform is their unfortunate burial tux. Welp. :P (no please tell me Oskar survives this episode. *deadpan*)

* * *

Oh look 8x23 callback. Thanks Dean. We’re just running through all the meta everyone’s ever written about you n Sam and the codependency. Dean is a disappointed Dean!girl and Sam is a bitter Sam!girl. Fight fight fight.

… You know, we still don’t actually know what ‘the darkness’ is aside from dark. Is this all a metaphor for season 11 being filmed with season 1′s cameras?

Fight fight fight!

* * *

This thing with Oskar is something Crowley learned from Abbadon about tormenting family.

* * *

Oh god is Sam stalling to let Cas do the thing? Sam???

Nope, he’s letting Dean kill him. 

Uhoh.

Man Dean really looks good with a scythe.

…

Uhoh. They really are the bad guys. Cas, go move to a different universe. Trust me, I have a feeling this one’s about to suck.

Does that count as major character Death? …. Now I’m the one making the puns. *gives Carver a point anyway for the visual pun* 6.5

* * *

Hello darkness I guess. 

Oh look Dean’s arm is fine. The make up department rejoices.

* * *

Is Rowena the Darkness?

I hope so. :P

* * *

Nope Sam this is not good. Death is dead and the Darkness is coming.

Oh look, apocalypse.

You did that.

Well maybe it was a freak lightning storm.

Oh, nope.

You done fucked up.


	5. 10x02

Quietly re-watching 10x02 and I’m up to the Metatron scene and I’m actually going to have to take notes of stuff that I find interesting because I can’t keep up and I haven’t seen too much discussion while everyone flips out about Sam and Dean. :P I might do more detailed thoughts for other scenes since it was all so interesting but this scene stuck with me a lot.

\- I’m pretty sure he’s the first person to hit on Hannah - she hasn’t had too much interaction with a load of characters but pretty much until this episode she could have been gender neutral for all the show cared? Now she’s getting cast in a vaguely romantic light with Cas and Metatron is being skeevy at her. *narrows eyes* Not sure what to make of that, putting on a pile of things to think about when we have more to work with, whether it was just this episode or…

I’m remembering from Metatron’s side of things how he seemed pretty affable if weird to begin with and then when we first saw him after the thing where he’s actually a villain was revealed he went right into calling Naomi a bitch. Despite the show being really liberal with that word it sort of feels like Metatron gets skeevy when you need short hand for “we hate this guy now”. Again, sort of side-eyeing the fact everyone else uses it.

\- My heart really did skip a beat when Hannah asked if there was any of Cas’s real grace left. We’ve all speculated long on hard on the consequences of it existing and at this point thanks to 2 years of fan fiction and meta and speculation I’ve read too much to even work with, although the title card comes to mind for a really basic bit of otherwise untouched foreshadowing attached to its use. I mean it’s a popular theory, just not one the show’s ever leaned on before. :P

\- Interested in the fact that Metatron wanted his freedom and didn’t mention lesser desires like, say, wanting something to read. I’m wondering if he feels like he’s been bitten by stories and is moving on. They’ve got him locked up without any entertainment, but he doesn’t seem to be smarting at its absence.

\- I hate how the long shots in this scene show the rubble of the cell Gadreel died in. He was metaphorically a ghost in season 9 and it looks like he’s a semi-literal ghost in season 10, at least in the sense that this time he’s actually dead. I find it interesting that in 6 weeks no one’s cleared up the mess (although they presumably removed Gadreel’s body). His self-destruction left a mark on Heaven - a sign of the permanent damage that it once left on him. Perhaps the damage is left as a symbol of what he died for: his decision and the words he spoke to Hannah in his speech should be looming over her thoughts here as she’s so near to it with this visual reminder but I’m not sure how much his message has sunk in as she’s on a very personal mission and seems to be contemplating letting Metatron out, someone who caused the biggest scars on Heaven even with the apocalypse and Godstiel combined.

\- I’m curious about the grace still. Metatron says “Cas back at full power” despite Hannah broaching the subject more like asking if there was any left at all. If nothing else I’m always leaning towards Cas getting wings back because he wasn’t an angel during the fall, and so he might have weathered that particular mauling by avoiding having any wings at all when it happened. Though with how wrecked Cas is this episode I’d be happy if he had like, mid-season 5 levels of power just so long as he was *stable*.

\- “Large and in charge” also harks back to all the times Cas was like “I’m no leader” and Metatron was like “lol you should be a leader” and, further back, Godstiel again. Metatron’s railing against the angels’ need to be led both through Gabriel in Meta Fiction and his doomed villain’s speech at the end of 9x23 also come to mind: Hannah in particular is consistently taunted about needing a leader and not being able to do it on her own. I really think that this much consistent poking is building up to Hannah developing into a worthy leader just because if Metatron keeps telling her she can’t we’re going to have to start yelling “YES” at him to shut him up. Something about his face. :P

\- Hannah says “I had to” which is old season 9 themes coming back, but Cas is having none of it. I love how he tells Metatron to shut up - considering talking and words were where he placed all his value it’s just one of those really nice little lines. “Hey, words hurt!” <\- considering that comes from the same guy who said “Well guess what, he’s dead too!” I’m just rolling my eyes. :P Cas’s insistence that Metatron is lying - is not someone of his word - ties in with that.

\- I find it interesting how Cas starts with “I have seen what -” before clarifying “I have *made*” deals…“ I’m pretty sure he’s still thinking hard about Dean and his latest crappy deal considering he only just found out its consequences, and only after realises that his own life experiences are probably more relevant here. Filing "and tears” somewhere close to “… love… dreams….” on the scale of unspoken words behind crap Cas has said this season which has stabbed me in the heart.

\- “It’s my life and it’s my choice.” Heh, well we’re all rooting for Cas to make a *proper* choice later because he’s clearly made the worst one back when he was standing in *exactly the same spot* and said “I just want to be an angel.” It’s not working out for him. Let’s have another go at choices, huh?

\- After their “break up” we see Hannah storming off to a particularly obvious shot of Gadreel’s broken cell in the foreground: more emphasis on choices angels have made in that room and how it was to help “the mission” and not any one particular angel - a rise above selfishness that Hannah is failing to get past yet.

\- Which makes Metatron’s surprise over Cas’s “keep it” *while his eyes are pointed in the direction of Gadreel’s cell* all the more obviously about Cas being on-mission and not selfish - so of course dying for it like all good martyrs. Well done Cas.

\- More ironic punishment - Cas talks about Metatron rotting in there until the end of time: he’s 100% responsible for Gadreel, who’s haunting this scene, and this is Metatron being told he has the same fate Gadreel suffered and feared most. Which makes his speech about getting out all the more irritating. His “everyone dies” bit followed by “you talk too much” is another thing on the same theme: he was calmly telling Hannah he’s bugger off to another galaxy but when he gets riled up in front of Cas he reveals he’s pretty much still invested in murdering everyone instead, shooting his mouth and betraying that he has no intention of going peacefully if they free him. Just hope Cas catches up with Hannah and *tells* her that. I’ve never seen a show which assumes less of what its characters tell each other between shots: it literally seems to be if they don’t communicate it on screen to each other then they will never ever know it.

\- I think the last bit with “dead man walking” is a reference to the Green Mile; in that book it’s one of the jailers (and the douchiest character in the whole book who gets epic cosmic punishment by the Jesus character) who yells that about the inmates as they’re brought in, so Metatron is twisting it around by being the one in the cell, subverting it so he’s the one in the position of power as Cas walks away. And he does have that position of authority despite being locked up, as he’s the one with the knowledge that can save Cas. Cas walks away with another shot of Gadreel’s broken cell in the foreground, a final reminder of who had been a dead man walking all of last season.


End file.
